If there’s one thing I’m really good at, it’s worrying. I come by the skill honestly, having inherited it from my mother who was a world class worrier.
She was full of “what ifs” and “might could happens” and she handed them down to me in a messy little package made up of sleepless nights and tied up with great big bows constructed from fatalistic flights of fancy.
Studly Doright, on the other hand, never worries, or if he does he never mentions it. Oh, he ponders deep stuff, like how to rig his bicycle with a battery and a throttle and a golf bag holder so he can use it on the golf course instead of a golf cart.
He might obsess a bit, but he never worries that he won’t get the bike to work or that he’ll crash and break a leg on the hole farthest from the clubhouse and have to crawl to safety. No, he leaves those worries to me.
His mom, Saint Helen, is not a worrier either. Even when she was on her own, raising five kids, she didn’t expend any energy worrying. She knew worrying wouldn’t solve a thing.
So, is this a nature versus nurture issue? Did my mom pass the worrying gene down to me, or did I learn from observing her that one should fret over situations one cannot control? Did Studly choose to emulate his mother, or is there a single speck on a gene that prevents him from worrying?
It’s probably a bit of both. We may never know. What I do know is that the old saying that opposites attract rings true in this case. Thank goodness.
Peace, people!
Praying for Eyebrowz 
You know my Mr worries constantly and i gather his mam did the same. Me? i never give too much of a toss re anything.
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I wish I could worry less. It’s exhausting.
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it is hard though to stop the habits of a lifetime.
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It is.
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I go with a bit of both.
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I think so. 🤔
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I fret. They don’t like it. So now when they pack up to go camping (without me, yippie!) instead of fretting that they will forget stuff I go away until they’re ready to pull out of the driveway. 🙂
I think it’s a combination of learning from observation as well as inheritance of that pesky gene.
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Most likely!
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I too am a worrywart, and can’t stop thinking about things that would probably never—and mostly didn’t—happen. At least we’re aware of it, so that’s one part of the problem dealt with, hey? Wishing you all the best!
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May we learn to do better! Thank you!
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I am very much a worrier, though I have learned, at least in part, to keep most of those worries focused on the pieces I have some control over. I don’t stress as much if my worries allow me to prepare for things. That way I know I have a shot at being able to deal with whatever comes around.
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I’m much better than I used to be, but I still have plenty of sleepless nights.
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Yeah, sleep and I aren’t exactly friends.
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😢
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I totally have the worry gene as well and passed it on to one of my two kids. I am great at worrying, not that it is a positive trait, but I’m great at it all the same.
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It’s too bad there’s not an Olympic event in worrying.
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Agreed. And it would be one of the few events that would not have to be canceled due to the pandemic!
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True!
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